IntelliJ IDEA 2017.3 Help

Keymap:

Finding and Replacing Text in Project

IntelliJ IDEA extends search and replace capability to the entire project, specific module, or any directory with its nested hierarchy. Explore search results in the preview tab or in the Find tool window.

Finding a piece of text in all the files within the specified path

On the main menu, choose Edit | Find | Find in Path, or press Ctrl+Shift+F.

In the Find In Path dialog, specify the following options:

Start entering the text. Type the text explicitly, or specify a pattern using a regular expression, or select a previously used piece of text or a pattern from the recent entries' drop-down list.

If you specify the search pattern through a regular expression, use the $n format in back references (to refer to a previously found and saved pattern).

Edit the selected result right in the preview editor as it is a functional editor where actions such as FindCtrl+F or Find NextF3 are available without leaving the Find in Path window. Press Enter to open the selected result in the editor. Click Open in Find WindowCtrl+Enter to see all of the results in the Find tool window.

If the file that IntelliJ IDEA tries to load exceeds 20MB, it will be ignored. To configure the file size, use the idea.max.content.load.filesize property located in the idea.properties file and change its size according to your preferences.

If the search takes too much time, click Background in the search progress window. In this case the search progress is indicated in the Status bar.

When invoked for the second (and subsequent) time, the dialog opens with the scope that has been selected previously. For example, if the scope has been Directory, the next time you invoke the dialog, the scope again will be Directory.

Replacing a piece of text in all the files within the specified path

Do one of the following:

On the main menu, choose Edit | Find | Replace in Path.

Press Ctrl+Shift+R

Being in the Find In Path dialog box, press Ctrl+Shift+R to switch to Replace In Path dialog box.

In the Replace In Path dialog, specify the search and replace strings, the search options, and the scope. Type the search and replacement text explicitly, or specify patterns using regular expression, or select a previously used piece of text or a pattern from the recent history drop-down list.

If you specify the search and/or replacement text through a regular expression, use the $n format in back references (to refer to a previously found and saved pattern).

To use a backslash character \ in a regular expression, escape the meaningful backslash by inserting three extra backslashes in preposition: \\\\.

Click Replace in Find Window. IntelliJ IDEA displays the encountered occurrences of the search string in the Find tool window, selects the first occurrence and opens the file with this occurrence in the editor and moves the focus to it.

At the same time, IntelliJ IDEA opens the Replace Usage dialog box, with the full path to the encountered occurrence in the title bar:

Do one of the following:

To have the selected occurrence replaced, click Replace.

To preserve the selected occurrence and move to the next one, click Skip.

To have all the occurrences of the search string in the currently active tab replaced, click Replace All in This File.

To preserve the occurrences of the search string in the currently active tab (any) and move to the next file, click Skip to Next File.

To have all the detected occurrences replaced, click All Files.

To switch to the manual mode, click Preview. The Replace Usage dialog box closes and the focus moves to the Find tool window. Do one of the following:

Browse through the list of detected occurrences, select the ones you want to replace and then click Replace Selected.

To have all the occurrences changed click Replace All.

Toggling between the Find and Replace

To switch from the Find In Path to Replace In Path window, press Ctrl+Shift+R.

To switch from the Replace In Path to Find In Path window, press Ctrl+Shift+F.